Thursday, February 20, 2014

Girl Scout Memories

Thinking Day is coming up! Thinking Day is a Girl Scout and Girl Guide tradition which is celebrated on February 22 each year. From page 213 in my Brownie Girl Scout Handbook -

Brownie Girl Scout HandbookPublished by the Girl Scouts of theUnited States of America, New York: 1963

"On Thinking Day, Girl Scouts and Girl Guides, in every country have special thoughts of their sister Scouts and Guides in other lands. They do something special to show their friendship for them.

Thinking Day is celebrated on February 22. Perhaps you already know this date as the birthday of our own George Washington. But February 22 is the birthday of Lord Baden-Powell and of his wife, Lady Baden-Powell;, too! Lord Baden -Powell was, of course, the Founder of Scouting for boys and girls round the world; Lady Baden-Powell is the World Chief Guide".

I was in Girl Scouts for around 6 years when I was a young kid. As I remember, I was a Brownie for two years, a Junior Girl Scout for three years and a Cadette for a year or two before I gradually lost interest as I moved into the middle school years. I know we celebrated Thinking Day in Scouts but I don't have any specific memories of it.

I loved Scouts when I was involved in it. I especially liked the Girl Scout summer camp I attended - Camp TeAta in Central Valley, NY. I was a camper there for around 5 summers and they were great summers. I started off with two week sessions, and stayed for 7 weeks my last year. The last 3 weeks of that last summer I was in what was called 'Wilderness Unit'. We lived in tents (not the cabins the rest of the camp stayed in) out in the woods and cooked our own breakfasts and dinners over a campfire. This experience started my life-long love of camping.

One of my best memories of Girl Scouts were some of the trips we did when I was a Junior Girl Scout. During the three years I was in Troop 225 in Little Falls, NJ, we went on three separate trips to Washington, DC, Niagara Falls, and Williamsburg, VA. Up until a few years ago, it was the only time I had been to each place.

I found some old notes in my Junior handbook. We went to Washington DC on the weekend of May 13-14, 1967. We left Little Falls at 7 AM and arrived in Washington DC by noon. My notes said we went sight-seeing for 5 hours and went to the Wax Museum . We stayed at the Whitehouse Motel in Fairfax, VA. I remember epic pillow fights and many reminders from the troop leaders to quiet down. On Sunday we visited Arlington Cemetery (spelled Alarton in my notes), Mount Vernon, and somewhere I wrote as "Amtion Theatre". I have no idea where that was. Could it have been another name for Ford's Theater (where Lincoln was shot)? I think we saw that. Supper was in Washington, DC. We were scheduled to leave there at 6:00 PM and arrive back in Little Falls by 11 PM after a stop or two. It was a great trip!